Eintracht Frankfurt Exercises Option to Buy Luka Jovic From Benfica
As expected, Eintracht Frankfurt have activated the purchase option on Luka Jovic's loan deal from Benfica, tying down his future with the Bundesliga club until June 2023.
The striker has been in prolific form in Germany since arriving on a two-year loan back in the summer of 2017, and was instrumental in the side's charge to the Europa League quarterfinals this season–where it is taking on his parent club.
Now, as confirmed on the club's official website, Eintracht have signed Jovic on a permanent deal for a fee expected to be in the region of €7m, and so will remain at the Commerzbank-Arena for another four years–though that isn't likely to stop Europe's elite clubs from making big offers for him this summer.
Speaking about the decision to activate the right-to-buy option on the Serbian international, the Bundesliga side's sporting director Fredi Bobic said: "The development of Luka with us is very pleasing. For us there was no question that we wanted to tie him firmly to the club.
"He is a player with extraordinary skills. It is important to us that we have bound him to unity."
The news has give a twist to the growing transfer speculation in recent weeks that Jovic was being considered as a summer transfer target for the likes of Barcelona and fellow Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.
Having broken through in professional football at his native side Red Star Belgrade, the 21-year-old joined Benfica in February 2016, but only managed to make a total of four first-team appearances.
Since his loan move to Eintracht, Jovic has scored 37 times in 64 appearances, with 25 of them coming this year, as Die Adler continue to confound expectations both domestically and in Europe.
